‘Helpful People’ sounds like an ancillary benefit to Feng Shui until you find yourself in need of some truly reliable and helpful people in your life. To be honest, more people become curious about Feng Shui because of the allure that it will improve their finances or love life, than for the probability that it will allow them to ‘receive it forward‘. In fact, the Helpful People/Travel/ Service area may be one of the most overlooked areas on the Feng Shui bagua. We all need to be able to give and receive stellar service as we move through this thing called life, and when this area is in sync, things just have a habit of going your way.
So who are these “helpful people” anyway? Let’s run through a few scenarios where helpful people are very appreciated. You were just in a wreck, you call your insurance company and they jump through hoops to make sure that all of your needs are met. Need a tow truck, car rental or doctor? Chances are that your insurance agent is acting as a very helpful person in your life in that moment. Here’s another example; let’s say that you walk out of your apartment and your car battery is dead. One of your neighbors has jumper cables, and offers to give your car battery a jump with their’s. They just did a “pay it forward” and they helped you out of a frustrating start to your day. A helpful person could be the girl taking your order in the drive-thru window or it could be the contractor in charge of your home’s plumbing needs. Regardless, it is always a good idea to tweak this area BEFORE it becomes a issue in your life.
“When this area is in sync, things just have a habit of going your way.”
Now that I have your attention, let me give you the 411 on this area. If you mentally visualize an imaginary tic tac toe box around your home, it will then be divided into 9 evenly placed squares (the example below is not perfectly even, but at least it gives you a visual). The Helpful People area is located in the bottom right hand corner in relation to your front door. Using your mental bagua, go to each room, locate the helpful people area and do an inventory of your findings. Your home is an overlay of multiple helpful people areas, and they all matter! Once your inventory is complete, you’ll want to analyze the data. Did you find your daughter’s collection of headless Barbies or did you find a chaotic table full of un-filed papers, bills, receipts and other symbols of overwhelm? Whether you found your meditation pillow and yoga mat, or your son’s legos scattered like land mines all over the floor, it doesn’t take a Feng Shui license to know what you need to do in order to bring some balance back into your life.
The next step is to eliminate the most obvious problems first. If your area is filled with clutter and broken items, clean it. Don’t wait for your kids to call Hoarders, and embarrass you on national television! Next, remember that this area revolves around being of service. From a Feng Shui point of view, all areas can be enhanced by balancing the elements. Helpful People is strengthened by the metal element. The colors that enhance this element are obviously metal tones like silver, bronze and gold, and metal items like bells or metal Tibetan Singing Bowls as well as white and light pastels. The shape that represents the metal element is a circle, so adding round, metal items would really pack some punch. Obviously, whatever you add, needs to be able to fit in with the decor that already exists within your home. Placing a Feng Shui “cure” in your home just because the store clerk assured you it will bring good luck is not nearly as powerful as finding a way to allow the cures to be blend seamlessly into your surroundings. It is much more desirable to have your friends walk into you home and feel great about it without knowing why, than for them to walk in and be confronted by all sorts of kitschy Feng Shui Chinese items that have no relevance to your life or culture.
Feng Shui may have its roots in some of the more esoteric and secret aspects of Chinese culture and lore, but at its most basic level, it is a very common-sense way to add a little peace and happiness into your life. Have fun with it, and whatever you do, don’t take yourself too seriously!
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